


Flavor

by Vulpixi_Misa



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: M/M, Pining, Snippets, Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27502030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vulpixi_Misa/pseuds/Vulpixi_Misa
Summary: Hinata is distracting but not on purpose. Tsukishima doesn't know how to cope.
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei
Comments: 6
Kudos: 158





	Flavor

**Author's Note:**

> Happy TsukiHina Day! (11/10) 
> 
> This is originally supposed to be a 5+1 thing but it just went somewhere else so... take this... 
> 
> Thanks to my sisters, [foodandfandom](https://archiveofourown.org/users/foodandfandom) and [aerlus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerlus) who beta'd this for me, because I sure as hell don't know what tenses are.

The first time he took notice, the club was hanging around the front of Sakanoshita’s after practice with some meat buns. Tsukishima was eating at a normal pace, not really thinking about anything important. Yamaguchi was chatting it up with Hinata when he stopped mid sentence and laughed. 

“Hinata, you have something—“ Yamaguchi gestured at the corner of his own face.

Hinata, who had practically inhaled his bun, paused in mid-flailing and licked his lip. His tongue caught the bit of bun clinging to his face and he nibbled on it while Yamaguchi continued his story. 

Tsukishima didn’t know why his body reacted the way it did but the sight of Hinata's tongue sent a jolt down his spine. He bit into his bun, hoping it would take his mind off the thought.

* * *

  
  


Morning practice was the worst at this time now that it was colder and the sun came out later. Tsukishima was in the changing room when the door flung open. Hinata, already changed, greeted him and Yamaguchi with way too much energy. He nodded quietly in acknowledgment and continued changing. Yamaguchi asked the newcomer if he forgot something.

Hinata sighed and whined about the winter air. He bounded over to his bag and pulled out a small tube of chapstick. He applied it quickly, shoved the tube into his shorts pocket and ran out the door saying he’ll see them downstairs. 

Tsukishima swallowed the lump in his throat. Why did his mouth feel so dry all of a sudden? He bit his lip and finished changing.

* * *

Tsukishima hated running. Well, he hated a lot of strenuous physical activity. He  _ knew _ that running increased stamina bit by bit (something he should work on) but he still hated it. 

He chugged his bottle of water, wiping away his sweat when Hinata came staggering by. Yachi handed him his bottle and towel and Hinata thanked her. Hinata pulled at the stopper with his teeth and downed his bottle noisily. He let out a satisfied gasp when he had his fill and wiped his face with the towel.

“Tsukki?”

Tsukishima choked on his gulp. He was in mid-swig and didn’t even realize he was staring. Yamaguchi patted his back to help with the cough. 

“Wow, guess you were really thirsty?”

After recovering, Tsukishima wiped his mouth with the back of his elbow and side-eyed his friend. Yamaguchi just smiled widely.

* * *

A study day has the four of them over at Yamaguchi’s place. Yachi had something to do that day so she wasn’t able to join them.

They were working on their English, Yamaguchi with Kageyama and Tsukishima with Hinata, which was the safest match up.

Hinata was nervously trying to remember the words he just learned as he filled out the test that Tsukishima had composed for him. Tsukishima watched on boredly but with his gaze on him; it just made Hinata more anxious. 

“Can you stop watching me? You’re making me forget everything!”

“Sure, that’s  _ my _ fault.”

Tsukishima turned away and pretended to work on his own papers but kept an eye on Hinata. Hinata focused on the practice test in front of him, scribbling and erasing words every few seconds. His tongue poked out the side of his mouth as he stared down the paper in concentration. 

Tsukishima found that his mouth felt awfully dry all of a sudden and then he realized he had been staring, mouth agape. He swallowed and reached for his bottle when he noticed his friend looking toward him. Yamaguchi gave him a knowing look, one eyebrow raised in amusement. Tsukishima glared at him and took a sip of his water.

* * *

They were both on their way to the nurses office. Hinata pointed out that it was semi normal for him to get hit in the face with a ball but that happening to Tsukishima was very uncommon. Tsukishima said nothing as he held his nose down. He didn’t want to say the reason he had gotten distracted in the first place. 

Earlier during practice, a ball smashed Hinata across the cheek and cut the side of his lip. At the first sign of wetness, Hinata licked at it out of habit. The metallic taste of it made him realize that he was bleeding. Yachi quickly passed him a towel and everyone on court had already resumed their practice seeing that Hinata was mostly okay. Mentally, Tsukishima was still on Hinata's injury. His mind was like molasses as it kept replaying Hinata licking the blood off his lip. Which was why Tsukishima was slow to register the warning before a ball made contact with his nose.

It didn’t help that Hinata thought he didn’t need the towel the small manager had provided him to collect the bleeding as he continued to lick at it.

Tsukishima told him that that was unsanitary but it came out funny because he was holding his nose. 

The nurse patched them up, deeming it nothing serious and they were on their way back to the gym. 

* * *

Hinata developed a habit of watching Tsukishima take his meals. Not super intensely like he would a game, just a quick glance every few minutes to make sure his meal was being eaten. It was originally because he was curious how a guy that tall only ate about a quarter of how much he himself would consume. It then turned into a responsibility when he realized that Tsukishima would sometimes not even finish his entire plate if nobody was watching and the upperclassmen weren’t around to reprimand him.

Eventually Hinata found it almost entertaining watching Tsukishima take small bites of his food. The way he methodically portioned each bite, a sip of soup every once in a while, his mouth closed in a quiet chew. It was like watching a giraffe grazing, in comparison to the savage lion that was Hinata; who would shovel rice down his throat and talk while chewing. 

There was something fascinating about Tsukishima’s mouth. As a person who didn’t talk much, Tsukishima only opened his mouth when necessary. Though Hinata usually remembered it in the form of a sneer or mocking smile. Or a frown, like what Tsukishima was doing right now. Oh he’s not eating anymore.

“Can you stop staring at me? You’re making me lose my appetite.”

Hinata blinked, not realizing he had kept his gaze on Tsukishima. He muttered a small “my bad” and went back to his meal. 

* * *

Tsukishima was on his way back to his classroom after purchasing a drink from the vending machine. He’d been in the mood for a citrus drink for some reason. (He denied that it had anything to do with a certain human tangerine.) He turned the corner when someone face-planted against his chest. And of course Tsukishima looked down to see a shock of orange hair.

Hinata reacted by throwing his hands up in an offensive stance after seeing who he had run into but Tsukishima just bopped him on top of his head.

“You bumped into me, idiot.”

Hinata retorted and stuck his tongue out.

“Real mature.”

His tongue retracted but was now replaced by a pout. Tsukishima couldn’t take it anymore. He slapped his hands on both sides of Hinata's face and loomed into his space.

“You’re driving me crazy. Cut it out.”

Hinata managed a confused “what?” through duck lips due to being squished between Tsukishima’s large hands.

Tsukishima’s eyes dropped to Hinata's mouth for a brief moment before he let him go and turned to head back to class.

Hinata bit his lip as he watched Tsukishima’s back disappear down the hall. 

* * *

They were at training camp again. It was way past dinner time and now they were just waiting for their turn at the bath. Yamaguchi was pulled into a conversation with the second years when he called Tsukishima over. Tanaka and Nishinoya had a glint in their eyes as they explained that they wanted to play a game and needed more members. 

Tsukishima was quick to decline but Yamaguchi tugged at his shirt to at least sit and listen to the rules first. 

Hearing “a game”, Hinata bounced over and asked to join. Kageyama tagged along too because if Hinata was game then so was he.

Kinoshita explained the rules, using Narita and Ennoshita as the examples. The latter two looked embarrassed but Narita was a good sport and demonstrated properly. He held a card over his mouth and sucked in his breath so that it remained in place. 

The first years were wide-eyed when Ennoshita leaned in and placed his lips on the other side of the card. Yamaguchi’s and Hinata’s faces were flushed but the two gasped in appreciation when Ennoshita sat away with the card now over his mouth.

He let his breath go and the card dropped into his hands.

“So? Any questions?”

Tsukishima was ready to stand up and leave but Yamaguchi pulled him back down again. Yamaguchi gave him a look and made a quick glance at the person sitting on Tsukishima’s other side. 

Tsukishima wanted to complain about how unsanitary the whole thing was and by the end of the round, they’d have swapped saliva with half of the team. He didn’t though because next to him, Hinata was arguing with Kageyama about who could keep the card on their faces longer. He scrunched his brows but remained in the circle as Nishinoya started the round officially and passed his card to Tanaka.

Tanaka moved closer to Kinoshita and nearly knocked him in the nose. The sudden closeness jostled the two and the card dropped, their faces crashing into each other. Nishinoya cackled particularly hard as the two clutched their faces, Kinoshita in pain and Tanaka in embarrassment. A vague “this doesn’t count, it’s a just game, okay?” could be heard beneath Tanaka’s fingers.

Tsukishima allowed himself to chuckle at the mishap with the rest of the group as they restarted again. He kept a calm demeanor but he gripped his hands in a fist, his eyes constantly landing back to the head of orange on his left. 

The game went on, Kinoshita successfully getting the card this time and passing it on to Narita. Narita and Ennoshita exchanged cards again and then Ennoshita turned to Kageyama. Hinata could barely contain his giggles as Kageyama stiffly leaned into the second year. The card successfully passed over but Kageyama didn’t suck in enough, so it dropped onto his lap before he could even turn around.

The group screamed and Kageyama scowled. Hinata laughed triumphantly, to which Kageyama retaliated by squeezing Hinata's head. Ennoshita managed to calm the fight and Tanaka yelled at them to resume the game.

Tsukishima didn’t realize he was holding his breath when Kageyama faced Hinata. The two were glaring at each other but it was not as threatening with the card slapped in front of Kageyama’s face. Kageyama had to lean down to get to Hinata and Tsukishima bit the inside of his cheek at the exchange. He couldn’t see it from where he was sitting but it was actually worse because it didn’t look like they were playing a game with a card between them.

The feeling in the pit of his stomach flipped when Hinata turned toward him with the card on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and his brown eyes were blinking rapidly, as if trying to communicate to Tsukishima to hurry up.

Hinata reached out and held onto Tsukishima’s shirt sleeve. He leaned in and Tsukishima could hear the blood rushing in his ears. 

“Wait, the King’s lips were on that side. I’m not touching that.”

The group let out a groan. Yamaguchi screeched his nickname beside him. Tsukishima knew he ruined the moment but Hinata was so close to his face that he didn’t know if it was better or worse that his mouth was covered this time.

Hinata let the card drop. 

“Tsukishima!”

“Well the whole game was unsanitary to begin with.”

Ennoshita produced another card and suggested they could start with that instead. Tsukishima made no comment about how it was probably still covered with hand germs but it was a little better than swapping saliva with Kageyama.

With the card back on Hinata’s face, the game resumed. Tsukishima let the shorter boy reach up to him. In fact, Tsukishima started leaning back, making Hinata have to move in further. His original intention was to make things harder for the shrimp but he wasn’t going to complain about having Hinata nearly in his lap.

He didn’t hide his signature smirk when he saw Hinata glaring at him, card still diligently held in place. The tiny hands that slapped the sides of his face caught him off guard and misaligned his glasses. Before he could react, Hinata had his lips pressed against his. 

Wait.

_ Wait. _

They both shot backwards and the group around them lost it as the card dropped onto the futon.

Tsukishima held his hand over his mouth as his entire face warmed up. He knew damn well this was just a stupid game so it shouldn’t count as anything but clearly he had stayed and played in hopes of this particular scenario. But he didn’t think it would  _ actually  _ happen.

Hinata was as red as his hair and was looking anywhere that wasn’t the guy he just touched lips with. Kageyama beside him was gloating about how at least  _ he _ was able to pass the card properly. 

The second years were still making noise but immediately shut up when the door slammed open followed by Daichi’s booming voice. They scrambled to grab their bath things, leaving the game unfinished. Asahi and Sugawara walked in asking what the noise was about. 

Yamaguchi smiled and explained as Tsukishima excused himself to go brush his teeth. Sugawara laughed and Asahi smiled fondly at memories of playing said game.

Yamaguchi noted the way Hinata watched Tsukishima leave the room. 

“Don’t worry about him. He’s just embarrassed.”

Hinata looked unsure, fiddling with his thumbs.

“Are you sure I didn’t make him mad?”

Yamaguchi chuckled. 

“Nah, if he was mad, he’d let you know.”

Hinata’s shoulders relaxed and he quirked a small smile.

“Neh Hinata, was that your first kiss?”

“EH?! YAMA- EH??? That’s- that doesn’t count? It was a game and-“

Yamaguchi laughed and apologized saying he was joking but they both knew he wasn’t really sorry. 

  
  


Outside, Tsukishima stood in front of the sink with his toothbrush and cup. He lingered a bit, replaying the moment again in his head. He licked his lips and allowed himself the small victory.

**Author's Note:**

> Haha
> 
> If anyone wants to check out my TsukiHina doodles, you can find me at vulpixidoodles @ tumblr!


End file.
